1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a ball game practice apparatus comprising a ball downwardly supported at a lower end of a dangling elastic expanding member and a practice board having a rebounding board at a front face thereof.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
According to a conventional ball game, e.g. tennis practice method, a player strikes a ball against a wall face vertically extending from the ground face or against a flat board and then returns the rebounding ball. However, since such practice is monotonous, there have been developed various types of tennis practice apparatuses for providing more changeful practice. For example, according to a Japanese utility mode laid-open application No. 59-6856, a flat board is disposed with a slight inclination relative to its vertical position so as to provide a greater variety in the directions of the rebounding ball. Further, according to a Japanese utility model laid-open application No. 62-17100, there is provided a practice board bent at a middle portion thereof by a predetermined angle.
Referring now to the prior art practice ball device, there is known a practice ball device having a long rubber string with its one end being fixed to the ball body and its other end being fixed to a weight. Further, there is also known a practice apparatus in which a practice ball device is fixedly attached to an end of a rubber string downwardly suspended from a substantially central portion of another rubber string expandedly attached to and supported through ends thereof by a pair of support mounts (a Japanese utility model laid-open application No. 45-31300).
However, the above-described prior art practice apparatuses have problems to be described hereinafter. That is to say, the above walls or boards may provide rebouding ball conditions of only a small variety, which is far from actual game situations.
In the case of practice using a weight connected to a ball device and placed on the ground, when the rubber string is stretched to its maximum extent by the ball body hit by a player's racket, the elasticity of the ball decreases in the course of returning, whereby the ball inadvertently tends to roll on the ground or the floor. Even if the ball bounds thereon, the ball does not bound high, therefore it is impossible for the player to repeatedly hit the ball.
In the case of the practice ball fixedly attached to one end of vertically suspended rubber string, in order to reduce the rebounding speed of the ball thereby making it easier for the player to hit the same, the vertically suspended rubber string need have a considerable length such that the hit ball may fly as far as possible. As the result, the practice apparatus as a whole tends to be large occupying a large vertical space. Moreover, since the ball is suspended at a high altitude, the rebounding ball may be pulled too upwardly for the player to hit the same again. Also, if the rubber string expandedly supported by a pair of support mounts has a longer length, it is difficult to adjust the ball to a proper altitude since the ball tends to be considerably displaced downwardly at the suspended position.
Then, the applicant of the present invention devised a tennis practice apparatus capable of providing advanced practice condition even in a relatively small space (Japanese utility model laid-open application No. 62-11657). However, there has been still room for improvement in this apparatus with respect to the variety of practice situations.